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Thursday, January 16, 2014

A PK-AM in PNG; a Pakistani-American leaning lessons in Papua New Guinea

When I told people I was going to go work in Papua New Guinea (PNG),
these are some of the responses/questions I got.

-

‘You are going where!?’

-‘Where is that?’

-‘Why would you go there?’

-‘Is it safe there?’

-‘What are you going to do there!?’

Truth be told, I also had to look at the map to
certify where the country is located and confirmed it was located on the other
side of the world – at least according to my American-perspective. Initially I was hesitant about going to PNG because
many of the stories or reports I had heard mostly involved violence and poverty,
and a quick internet search only furthered my hesitation when I found plenty of
stories relating to these subjects. Digging
a bit deeper, however, I found other stories that did not relate to violence or
poverty but rather were stories of discovery.
There were stories about explorers encountering new people, languages,
animals, and species of plants that have never been encountered before. These are the stories I decided to focus on because
as a Pakistani-American growing up in America, I learned to see the negative
but focus on the positive.

I was born and raised in America and am proud of my Pakistani-background but
sometimes that proudness was tested, especially when terrible news would come
out of Pakistan (which unfortunately was the only time Pakistan would be in the
Western news). It was then I decided not
to ignore the terrible news from Pakistan, but I wanted to focus on the many
great things that Pakistan holds in my heart: my relatives (khalas, chachus,
cousins, etc.), the amazing Pakistani food (garam naan straight out of the
tandoor with rich salans), the rich culture and heritage of Lahore, and general
good nature I found while visiting Pakistan.
It was these aspects of Pakistan I would try to focus on and illustrate
when talking to people in America, so they could also appreciate the Pakistan I
know and not focus on the Pakistan they heard or saw in the news. I wanted to find the balance and that is the
same lesson I applied when I set off for Papua New Guinea.

When I first arrived into Papua New Guinea, it was a complete culture
shock; the motto of Papua New Guinea is ‘land of the unexpected’ and everything
I encountered on my first trip was COMPLETELY unexpected. Papua New Guinea is nothing like America –
the food, the culture, the way of life, the way of working, the climate, and
the intense security – and the country
has no overlap with what I am accustomed to, but as I spent more time with the
people I noticed more similarities with Pakistan. Yes I did notice the violence that plagues
the country – there is communal violence, rampant domestic violence, as well as
petty thefts – but I also noticed warm hearts and inviting people; people who
would welcome and embrace you as if you were part of the family.

My job required me to travel to different parts of the country and in one
city the hotel shuttle forgot to pick me up from the airport. This wouldn’t have been a big deal except
that the airport was about an hour outside of the city and would only open when
the plane landed and the shut when the plane took off (an hour after it landed). The shuttle driver only worked when there were
passengers to be picked up so the shuttle was not available, so there I was stranded
at the airport and I was the only foreigner there so I stuck out. It could’ve have been one of the scariest
times I experienced, but I never felt unsafe or unprotected because the Papua
New Guineans surrounded me with warmth and security. Person after person would stop and ask me if
I was ok, if I needed a ride to town (some even willing to go the complete
opposite way to drop me off thus adding another hour to their commute), or if I
was ok standing there by myself. In the
end, it was the airline ground staff who eventually stayed with me and dropped
me off at the hotel but I never forgot the warmth and security the Papua New
Guineans showed me while I was stranded there.
This showed the Papua New Guineans capacity for warmth and protection,
but they also showed great heart.

In another instance I had been working in one city for about 2 weeks doing
intense training with a group, which provided enough time to get to know
someone but not enough time to consider someone family or a part of their tribe
(at least not in my mind); I found out later that I was completely wrong by PNG
standards. My flight was in the morning
from another city so we had to drive down, but due to traffic (and bad roads) I
missed my morning flight and was rerouted to the afternoon flight. Instead of leaving me at the airport or
dropping me off at a nearby hotel, I was invited, as part of the family, to
witness a PNG tradition – the bride price
ceremony. The bride price ceremony involves “an amount of money or property or
wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the
marriage of their daughter to the groom.”[i] It is very similar to a dowry in Pakistan,
but in PNG they have an elaborate ceremony in which all family members are
invited and this is what I got to witness as a member of the family. The leader of the group I had been training
had recently gotten married and was now conducting his bride price ceremony and invited me to be a part of the celebration
as part of his tribe. As soon as I
stepped in I was immediately welcomed as part of the groom’s side and got to
witness an AMAZING tradition which has a lot of heart, but also has elements of
community and oneness and of coming together as one. Witnessing a bride price ceremony was an incredible opportunity but when it was
over it wasn’t the ceremony or the customs that I took with me, rather it was
the feeling of a community or tribe coming together and welcoming everyone that
remained with me. I felt a part of the tribe,
a part of the family and that is something which I could not read about in the
news; I had to experience it.

These two stories are just some of my experiences travelling and working
around Papua New Guinea and it taught me that no matter what is being reported
or told or heard, every country has heart and good people.The goodness and warmth of people is what I
experienced in both Pakistan and Papua New Guinea, and my experiences in
supposedly two countries that are considered ‘dangerous and high-risk’ showed
that while there is some negativity, the people of these countries are filled
with heart and joy and welcome everyone.That is the message that needs to be delivered.